The Colleges of the Southeastern Conference Come to Town

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is not only one of the most formidable football recruitment machines in the nation, but these twelve schools are also powerhouse recruiters of local high school students drawing hundreds of applicants from Maryland, Virginia, and DC to their beautiful campuses.

This year the SEC is coming to Oakton High School in Vienna, Virginia, on Wednesday, April 7, and the Waterford at Fair Oaks Mall on April 8. Each of the schools is scheduled to make a presentation and each will have representatives available to meet individually with students seeking more information, including seniors who haven’t quite made up their minds.

To get up to speed on the SEC, it might be helpful to know a little about the individual schools. Here is what the schools say about themselves on the SEC website (statistics are from the common data set information provided by each school):

University of Alabama: For three consecutive years, US News & World Report has named this school one of the ‘top’ public universities in the nation.
Size: 22,046 undergrads
SAT/ACT: 990-1210/21-27
Out-of-State: 37%

University of Arkansas: Funded research has grown dramatically, with Arkansas’ faculty winning major research grants from the nation’s most competitive programs.
Size: 14,861
SAT/ACT: 1020-1270/23-28
Out-of-State: 36%

Auburn University: Auburn has had a nearly $4 billion economic impact on the State of Alabama.
Size: 20,031
SAT/ACT: 1070-1270/23-28
Out-of-State: 43%

University of Florida: Florida is the only school in the nation to finish in the top 10 in national all-sports rankings every year since 1983-84.
Size: 34,094
SAT/ACT: 1160-1380/25-30
Out-of-State: 3%

University of Georgia: The Wall Street Journal includes UGA among 16 “Hot Schools” that are drawing increased attention from students and families because of cost, safety, and academics.
Size: 25,150
SAT/ACT: 1130-1320/24-29
Out-of-State: 16%

University of Kentucky: UK academic programs boast 80 national rankings for quality of education and the school is one of only a few universities in the country with a teaching and research campus and a medical center in one central location.
Size: 18,591
SAT/ACT: 1000-1250/22-27
Out-of-State: 20%

Louisiana State University: LSU is designated as a Research 1 University—the “top” category of the Carnegie Foundation’s ranking of research institutions.
Size: 23,057
SAT/ACT: 1070-1280/23-28
Out-of-State: 21%

Mississippi State University: Mississippi State is home to one of the ‘top’ 20 supercomputing sites among American universities.
Size: 13,204
SAT/ACT: 970-1270/20-27
Out-of-State: 25%

University of South Carolina: USC’s undergraduate international business program is one of the ‘top’ ranked programs in the country according to USNWR.
Size: 19,458
SAT/ACT: 1090-1290/24-28
Out-of-State: 38%

University of Tennessee: UT is the oldest and largest public higher education institution in the state, tracing its beginnings to the founding of Blount College in Knoxville in 1794.
Size: 21,378
SAT/ACT: 1070-1270/24-29
Out-of-State: 13%

Vanderbilt University: In two decades, Vanderbilt has put more than $762 million toward renovation and construction on its campus, including the addition of state-of-the-art buildings for psychology, chemistry, and music, among others.
Size: 6,598
SAT/ACT: 1330-1500/30-33
Out-of-State: 84%